Yeah, I'm very lucky to have dark skies only a short drive away. You won't be disappointed with the Viltrox, it's built like a tank and just terrific performance for the price.
What do you think about this lens? Received my copy today, but will have to wait to test it for astro a few weeks due to bad weather unfortunately. Also using an a7rII. Just did some test for CA and it performs flawlessly. No CA visible on tree branches against a cloudy sky. 😀
Apologies @MarkusGebhard , seems I completely missed your comment here. I'm still wrapped with this lens. The optical quality difference between it and the much more expensive Sony GM is marginal, would need to be pixel peeping to see anything. The notable advantage of the Sony is the size and weight, however the Viltrox is hardly what I'd call a big or heavy lens (the Sony is just crazy tiny).
Thanks a bunch Richard! Yeah, honestly was not expecting it to be as good as it is. Definitely a good margin ahead of the other entry level 3rd party wide angle options from the likes of Laowa or Samyang. I'm actually considering offloading my Sony 14mm GM in favour of this lens as weight wise they're not massively different and 16mm is wide enough for me.
Another good vid Dom. Glad t I see you back at it. I know the feeling about trying to get out. The viltrox did pretty well for the cost IMHO. I recently got a lens I was dreaming of for a long time, and when I got it, I had nothing but bad weather JUJU for a whole month till I got to finally road test it.
Thanks Dwyane! Weather plays a big part, hard to keep motivation up to go out when it's clouded out or the temperature dial is nudging zero 😂. Very impressed with the Viltrox so far, astrophotography lens options seem to have really come of age these past 5 years. What lens did you end up picking up?
i just ordered one 9/2 for my A7RIV, A1, A7SIII. I am looking forward to making great shots with it. Cheers and thanks .And now Adobe has added support for this lens .
Amazing review, mate! Very comprehensive. Some mistakes here and there, like we always do accidentally, but overall you gave a very solid idea of what to expect from this impressively "cheap" lens.
Thanks a lot 👍. Unfortunate that the Sony 20mm was out of focus, however I think the 14mm GM is the more closely aligned to the Viltrox. Anything wider than 20mm you really are in the realm of time-lapse/ aurora photography.
Thanks, it certainly does take many hours to produce a video of this genre, and certainly agree that the focus issue does knock it on the head a bit. I don't think it is a considerable reduction however, I certainly wouldn't have posted it if I did. Plenty of detail in there to judge the merit of the Viltrox itself and the 14mm GM which is its closest competing E-mount lens. Hindsight I probably should've just discarded the 20mm shots altogether as it's not really a direct competitor to the Viltrox anyway. Maybe I'll do another comparison next Milky Way Core season and see how other cheap UWA lenses stack up.
Thanks, glad it was of use 👍. Viltrox is about the best value for money of any new lens purchase I've made for full frame. My video here is taken with a Sony a7s II using a Laowa 35mm f/0.95.
With this lens just released for the Nikon z mount I had to come back and revisit this video to remind myself what you thought. After 9 months of usage are you still happy with it Domenic?
Hey Greg, absolutely still of the opinion that the Viltrox is the best budget fast UWA out there. Used it just this weekend gone for the Aurora in fact, my strongest and only real criticism of it is the strong vignette, though it is hardly on its own here. For the Z mount I'd think the Viltrox has no real competition for what it is.
Thanks for watching! Delivery delays are so frustrating, wouldn't be surprised if Viltrox has quite the order book on this lens as I've not seen a bad review of it yet. I'm sure you're planning compositions in the meantime. One thing I'd note is this lens seems pretty susceptible to fogging up. So if that sounds like your sort of climate, I'd pan around having a lens warmer on hand for this one.
@@AstroRoad I have a lens warmer, but don’t often use it. I live in the high deserts of Utah and even when it is bitter cold there is no condensation. UPS just messaged me that delivery is today! Thanks.
Thanks for the genuine review. I'm a Sony Shooter. I am confused between Laowa 15mm f2 (Zero-distrotion) MF lens vs Viltrox 16mm f1.8. Cloud you help me to choose one?
My first ever lens purchased purely for astro was the Laowa 7.5mm f/2 M43, so I have a real soft spot for them. That said, in this particular case there simply is just no comparison, especially given the cost, similar build quality weight and size. For astro the Viltrox is a significantly superior lens.
@@AstroRoad Thank you once again. But I've heard the mix receives about Samyang. Bad comma, fringing CA, distortion. Idk you're considering Samyang because it's 1.8? I've checked multiple videos, many of them are sponsored so can't trust their reviews. Kudos to the reviewer like you, who own/ rental lens for the reviews and presents the truth.
@@AstroRoad Also Tmaron has 15-30 G2 for Canon, Nikon, but for Sony they've launched 17-28 it's not that wide, also idk which one perform better in night scapes. Sigma 14-24 Art 2.8 vs Tamron 17-28 G2 f2.8. Thank you for your time. I really appreciate it. Love from India 🇮🇳
Assume you are referring to the Samyang tiny prime series here? I have the 24mm and 35mm and they are great lenses, just not for astrophotography unfortunately. They show considerable CA and average levels of coma.
I had the Tamron 15-30mm G1 for some years, it really is a great lens. I expect the G2 is much the same. Not used the 17-28mm, so can't comment there. The Sigma 14-24mm is an excellent zoom for astro, this would be close to my pick of the bunch overall of the modern mirrorless lenses.
Optically I think the gap is so close that the Sony 14mm GM is only really worth it if you absolutely need the wider FOV and/or looking for any and all weight saving you can get. 20mm is different enough I feel that they aren't as directly comparable. Wider than 20mm I'm more inclined to use for motion time-lapse. Still very close optically, definitely not reflective of the price I paid for each of them.
that sony 20mm looks good ,i have just purchased the 16mm viltrox i also own the samyang 24mm f1.8 ,would like to see a comparison with all your astro lenses for sony e mount ,although 16mm 20mm and 14mm are very different fov ,just a point what tracker did you use.
That would be good idea, though more from a FOV reference than optical performance as all the lenses I have these days have a fairly particular purpose. I have 10 lenses spanning from 14mm to 135mm use for astrophotography work. I'm going to put that one on my list though, I like the idea. Cheers 🙂👍.
Generally I'd consider CA as less of an issue than other aberrations. I'd definitely take it before having to deal with coma or astigmatism (which usually come together).
Když vidím ty obrovské rozdíly mezi ostrostí a obsahu detailů jsem rád, že vlastním Viltrox, který je absolutně nejlepší z těchto tří objektivů ostřením a detaily i barevností. Předražené sony nedosahují vůbec nic z toho co Viltrox.
I agree that the Viltrox here really shows that price does not necessarily equal performance. If you're yet to get an ultra wide and looking for one, the Viltrox is definitely the way to go unless you are absolutely chasing all the weight savings you can get and price is no issue. I will say though that the Viltrox does seem to have a stronger vignette wide open than the Sony 14mm GM.
The most important thing about the viltrox is you can use many kinds of 77mm filter on it. For example, 77mm light polution filter, 77mm Ha filter and other 77mm filters for daytime shoot. It is significantly more convenient.
Oh yeah, definately a huge advantage. I can't actually think of another lens off the top of my head that is this wide with front screw on filters that also has really good optical performance.
@@AstroRoadLaowa 15mm F2 is another lens that can use screw on filters but the optical performance is bad. I use Sony 14 1.8 + H&Y magnetic 100x100mm filter system + NDs, GNDs, Polarizer, black mist 1/8 and black mist 1/4 in 100x100mm format, shoot ton of astrophoto but as I shoot more and more video, I find even 100x100mm filter become cumbersome. I’m planning to sell the Sony 14 1.8 and get the Viltrox 16 1.8 for both photography and videography.
Yeah, that Laowa is built like a tank, but very optically compromised. I'm currently pondering the same decision as you. Hard to justify keeping the 14mm GM when the Viltrox has those advantages and not giving away much optically.
Sure is, I know a few Nikon shooters using this lens. I think the best 20mm at the moment is the newer Sigma f/1.4 DN, which is a good thing as it is available across L and E mount. Not Z mount unfortunately, though I believe there is an adapter to mount Sony E mount to Nikon Z. Not sure of the details though, I imagine the tolerances are pretty tight.
Sony definitely set a very high benchmark for landscape astrophotography centric lenses, but boy do they charge for it. I'm a big advocate for chasing the performance/cost sweet spot. Of the 10 lenses I use for astro related use cases on my Sony cameras, only 3 are Sony.
@@AstroRoad I’m a hobbies and have never shot Astro, tho would like to try. I Mainly shoot street and candid portraits. Been travelling more and need something wider then my 55 1.8 zeiss. Was looking at 14-24 sigma but not sure I can justify the price. I think a 24 and my 55 would be fine and small and light in the bag and carrying for hours. I don’t make money from my photos so the best of the best isn’t essential. I do compare Sony lenses to others and majority of the time I just done see the value in £1000 plus more.
My copy of this lens arrived with faulty AF out of the box and I am returning it for a refund. Not a good first impression of Viltrox. Basically cheap garbage IMHO.
Oh man, what a disappointing start. I would not consider Viltrox a premium brand, but the build quality of this lens is definitely a significant level up. Can happen with any brand, happy to hear at least you were able to get a refund processed.
I think you have posted this on every single video about this lens, you getting a faulty lens doesn’t make it cheap crap,just means you got a faulty lens🤷♂️
I love how the video is recorded bright enough to see the stars in the video. I just ordered the 16mm viltrox and will also be using it on the a7rii
Yeah, I'm very lucky to have dark skies only a short drive away. You won't be disappointed with the Viltrox, it's built like a tank and just terrific performance for the price.
What do you think about this lens? Received my copy today, but will have to wait to test it for astro a few weeks due to bad weather unfortunately. Also using an a7rII. Just did some test for CA and it performs flawlessly. No CA visible on tree branches against a cloudy sky. 😀
Apologies @MarkusGebhard , seems I completely missed your comment here. I'm still wrapped with this lens. The optical quality difference between it and the much more expensive Sony GM is marginal, would need to be pixel peeping to see anything. The notable advantage of the Sony is the size and weight, however the Viltrox is hardly what I'd call a big or heavy lens (the Sony is just crazy tiny).
Great video Dominic. Viltrox are sure lifting their game lately with great value lenses.
Thanks a bunch Richard! Yeah, honestly was not expecting it to be as good as it is. Definitely a good margin ahead of the other entry level 3rd party wide angle options from the likes of Laowa or Samyang. I'm actually considering offloading my Sony 14mm GM in favour of this lens as weight wise they're not massively different and 16mm is wide enough for me.
Thank you, that was the review that I was looking for! Greetings from Germany. 😉👍
Glad it was helpful!
It’s a really good and professional review 👍👍 Big thanks!
Thanks for watching and for the feedback 👍
Another good vid Dom.
Glad t I see you back at it. I know the feeling about trying to get out.
The viltrox did pretty well for the cost IMHO.
I recently got a lens I was dreaming of for a long time, and when I got it, I had nothing but bad weather JUJU for a whole month till I got to finally road test it.
Thanks Dwyane! Weather plays a big part, hard to keep motivation up to go out when it's clouded out or the temperature dial is nudging zero 😂. Very impressed with the Viltrox so far, astrophotography lens options seem to have really come of age these past 5 years. What lens did you end up picking up?
My sigma art 14mm f1.8 massive improvement over the gen1 samyang 14mm f2.8 I have had for a few years now.
i just ordered one 9/2 for my A7RIV, A1, A7SIII. I am looking forward to making great shots with it. Cheers and thanks .And now Adobe has added support for this lens .
It's a great lens for the dollars spent. I'm sure you'll love it!
@@AstroRoad thanks, I am sure you are right.
Amazing review, mate! Very comprehensive. Some mistakes here and there, like we always do accidentally, but overall you gave a very solid idea of what to expect from this impressively "cheap" lens.
Thanks a lot 👍. Unfortunate that the Sony 20mm was out of focus, however I think the 14mm GM is the more closely aligned to the Viltrox. Anything wider than 20mm you really are in the realm of time-lapse/ aurora photography.
Appreciate the video and I understand how much work goes into this, but the focus issues reduce the value of this lens review considerably.
Thanks, it certainly does take many hours to produce a video of this genre, and certainly agree that the focus issue does knock it on the head a bit. I don't think it is a considerable reduction however, I certainly wouldn't have posted it if I did. Plenty of detail in there to judge the merit of the Viltrox itself and the 14mm GM which is its closest competing E-mount lens. Hindsight I probably should've just discarded the 20mm shots altogether as it's not really a direct competitor to the Viltrox anyway. Maybe I'll do another comparison next Milky Way Core season and see how other cheap UWA lenses stack up.
Thank you for the video, really considering giving Viltrox a try. What setup you are using for video its really too good!
Thanks, glad it was of use 👍. Viltrox is about the best value for money of any new lens purchase I've made for full frame. My video here is taken with a Sony a7s II using a Laowa 35mm f/0.95.
With this lens just released for the Nikon z mount I had to come back and revisit this video to remind myself what you thought. After 9 months of usage are you still happy with it Domenic?
Hey Greg, absolutely still of the opinion that the Viltrox is the best budget fast UWA out there. Used it just this weekend gone for the Aurora in fact, my strongest and only real criticism of it is the strong vignette, though it is hardly on its own here. For the Z mount I'd think the Viltrox has no real competition for what it is.
Just purchased this lens but it is on backorder. Hope to be doing time lapses with it soon.
Thanks for watching! Delivery delays are so frustrating, wouldn't be surprised if Viltrox has quite the order book on this lens as I've not seen a bad review of it yet. I'm sure you're planning compositions in the meantime. One thing I'd note is this lens seems pretty susceptible to fogging up. So if that sounds like your sort of climate, I'd pan around having a lens warmer on hand for this one.
@@AstroRoad I have a lens warmer, but don’t often use it. I live in the high deserts of Utah and even when it is bitter cold there is no condensation. UPS just messaged me that delivery is today! Thanks.
Thanks for the genuine review. I'm a Sony Shooter. I am confused between Laowa 15mm f2 (Zero-distrotion) MF lens vs Viltrox 16mm f1.8.
Cloud you help me to choose one?
My first ever lens purchased purely for astro was the Laowa 7.5mm f/2 M43, so I have a real soft spot for them. That said, in this particular case there simply is just no comparison, especially given the cost, similar build quality weight and size.
For astro the Viltrox is a significantly superior lens.
@@AstroRoad Thank you once again. But I've heard the mix receives about Samyang. Bad comma, fringing CA, distortion. Idk you're considering Samyang because it's 1.8? I've checked multiple videos, many of them are sponsored so can't trust their reviews. Kudos to the reviewer like you, who own/ rental lens for the reviews and presents the truth.
@@AstroRoad Also Tmaron has 15-30 G2 for Canon, Nikon, but for Sony they've launched 17-28 it's not that wide, also idk which one perform better in night scapes. Sigma 14-24 Art 2.8 vs Tamron 17-28 G2 f2.8. Thank you for your time. I really appreciate it. Love from India 🇮🇳
Assume you are referring to the Samyang tiny prime series here? I have the 24mm and 35mm and they are great lenses, just not for astrophotography unfortunately. They show considerable CA and average levels of coma.
I had the Tamron 15-30mm G1 for some years, it really is a great lens. I expect the G2 is much the same. Not used the 17-28mm, so can't comment there. The Sigma 14-24mm is an excellent zoom for astro, this would be close to my pick of the bunch overall of the modern mirrorless lenses.
Have you had the chance to take it out again? Whats your verdict in regards to sharpnes, coma, etc compared to the the other 2 lenses now?
Optically I think the gap is so close that the Sony 14mm GM is only really worth it if you absolutely need the wider FOV and/or looking for any and all weight saving you can get.
20mm is different enough I feel that they aren't as directly comparable. Wider than 20mm I'm more inclined to use for motion time-lapse. Still very close optically, definitely not reflective of the price I paid for each of them.
that sony 20mm looks good ,i have just purchased the 16mm viltrox i also own the samyang 24mm f1.8 ,would like to see a comparison with all your astro lenses for sony e mount ,although 16mm 20mm and 14mm are very different fov ,just a point what tracker did you use.
That would be good idea, though more from a FOV reference than optical performance as all the lenses I have these days have a fairly particular purpose. I have 10 lenses spanning from 14mm to 135mm use for astrophotography work. I'm going to put that one on my list though, I like the idea. Cheers 🙂👍.
How is the chromatic aberration on your copy of the samyamg 24mm f1.8? I got a lot of CA unfortunately
Not great wide open, which is why I more or less use this as a time-lapse lens these days. Much more forgiving.
Nothing I can not remedy but perhaps I have not used it enough in scenarios where ca becomes apparent.
Generally I'd consider CA as less of an issue than other aberrations. I'd definitely take it before having to deal with coma or astigmatism (which usually come together).
Could it be that the viltox was slightly out of Focus at f2.8? It looked sharoer at 1.8 somehow
Perhaps a touch on review. I might have to revisit this in a few months when the milky way core is setting in the West.
Thank you for helpful comparison. You probably help me save a lot of money to not buy a 14mm GM 😂
Great to hear!
Když vidím ty obrovské rozdíly mezi ostrostí a obsahu detailů jsem rád, že vlastním Viltrox, který je absolutně nejlepší z těchto tří objektivů ostřením a detaily i barevností. Předražené sony nedosahují vůbec nic z toho co Viltrox.
I agree that the Viltrox here really shows that price does not necessarily equal performance. If you're yet to get an ultra wide and looking for one, the Viltrox is definitely the way to go unless you are absolutely chasing all the weight savings you can get and price is no issue. I will say though that the Viltrox does seem to have a stronger vignette wide open than the Sony 14mm GM.
The most important thing about the viltrox is you can use many kinds of 77mm filter on it. For example, 77mm light polution filter, 77mm Ha filter and other 77mm filters for daytime shoot. It is significantly more convenient.
Oh yeah, definately a huge advantage. I can't actually think of another lens off the top of my head that is this wide with front screw on filters that also has really good optical performance.
@@AstroRoadLaowa 15mm F2 is another lens that can use screw on filters but the optical performance is bad. I use Sony 14 1.8 + H&Y magnetic 100x100mm filter system + NDs, GNDs, Polarizer, black mist 1/8 and black mist 1/4 in 100x100mm format, shoot ton of astrophoto but as I shoot more and more video, I find even 100x100mm filter become cumbersome. I’m planning to sell the Sony 14 1.8 and get the Viltrox 16 1.8 for both photography and videography.
Yeah, that Laowa is built like a tank, but very optically compromised. I'm currently pondering the same decision as you. Hard to justify keeping the 14mm GM when the Viltrox has those advantages and not giving away much optically.
nikon z 20mm 1.8s One of the best 20mm lenses @@AstroRoad
Sure is, I know a few Nikon shooters using this lens. I think the best 20mm at the moment is the newer Sigma f/1.4 DN, which is a good thing as it is available across L and E mount. Not Z mount unfortunately, though I believe there is an adapter to mount Sony E mount to Nikon Z. Not sure of the details though, I imagine the tolerances are pretty tight.
I've take one
Absolutely. It is probably the best value for money astro prime for Sony.
Just shows what mark up Sony puts on gear. Don’t fall for the names
Sony definitely set a very high benchmark for landscape astrophotography centric lenses, but boy do they charge for it. I'm a big advocate for chasing the performance/cost sweet spot. Of the 10 lenses I use for astro related use cases on my Sony cameras, only 3 are Sony.
@@AstroRoad I’m a hobbies and have never shot Astro, tho would like to try. I Mainly shoot street and candid portraits. Been travelling more and need something wider then my 55 1.8 zeiss. Was looking at 14-24 sigma but not sure I can justify the price. I think a 24 and my 55 would be fine and small and light in the bag and carrying for hours.
I don’t make money from my photos so the best of the best isn’t essential. I do compare Sony lenses to others and majority of the time I just done see the value in £1000 plus more.
My copy of this lens arrived with faulty AF out of the box and I am returning it for a refund. Not a good first impression of Viltrox. Basically cheap garbage IMHO.
Oh man, what a disappointing start. I would not consider Viltrox a premium brand, but the build quality of this lens is definitely a significant level up. Can happen with any brand, happy to hear at least you were able to get a refund processed.
@@AstroRoad Still waiting on the refund…
:(
I think you have posted this on every single video about this lens, you getting a faulty lens doesn’t make it cheap crap,just means you got a faulty lens🤷♂️
@@Jabber-ig3iwLiving rent free in your mind 😂